Solar eclipse darkens sky over Africa

Despite rain and overcast skies residents of southern Gabon got a glimpse of a total eclipse of the sun, a rare phenomenon also visible in eastern Africa.

Electrical jump-starter for the brain: low-level current offers promise, perils

Kate Murphy What if you could establish the neural pathways that lead to virtuosity more quickly? That is the promise of transcranial direct current stimulation.

Rebooting your memory

Drew Turney After millions of years of remembering what matters, is technology changing the way memory works?

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Sugar hit beats the instinct to brawl

NICKY PHILLIPS People prone to aggressive behaviour can reduce their outbursts and control their impulse to fight by using their non-dominant hand or consuming a little sugar, new research has found.

US military wants to create 'Iron Man suit'

David S. Cloud The US military wants to produce a prototype of a protective "Iron Man suit" packed with the latest communications gear.

Explosive news about Mars super-volcanoes

PETER SPINKS The discoveries continue to shape theories about whether there was ever life on Mars.

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Planet Kepler-78b is just like Earth, but 2000 degrees hotter

An Earth-sized planet far beyond our Solar System has been found to have a similar mass to our planet, say researchers engaged in the hunt for other habitable worlds.

Naked-eye peek at monster's lair black hole

ASTRONOMY We need to use a better term to describe this black hole - a 'super-massive black hole'.

Statistician Terry Speed awarded PM's Prize for Science for work in bioinformatics

NICKY PHILLIPS Their research topics couldn't be more distinct - one study's plants; the other, particles - but a pair of Sydney scientists now have something in common, they are recipients of two of the country's most prestigious science awards, the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science.

Children's brain-imaging device has built-in entertainment

NICKY PHILLIPS Brain imaging may have transformed scientist's understanding of our most complex organ - but try getting a three-year-old to lie still, cocooned inside a machine, for 45 minutes while an image is being taken.

Monkey brains help explain our fear of snakes

Geoffrey Mohan Scientists may be closer to a explaining why ophidiophobia ranks among the top fears of humans.

Pioneer in fight against child virus wins top science prize

BRIDIE SMITH Until 40 years ago the cause of one of the most common types of gastro was a mystery. But the consequences of infection were obvious.

Poachers, conservation groups in a high-tech arms race

Jason Bittel Chemical weapons, cyber attacks, and DNA analysis: the war between conservationists and poachers has never been more high tech.

Combating bushfires with science

PETER SPINKS It's shaping up to be a long bushfire season but there are ways to ease its impact.

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'Space cannon' to be fired into asteroid: Japan

Japanese scientists preparing to blast a crater in an asteroid to find out what it is made of say they have successfully tested their new space cannon.

Most distant galaxy in the universe discovered

Meeri Kim Scientists have discovered the most distant galaxy ever confirmed, providing a snapshot of the early universe.

Norwegian town Rjukan installs giant mirrors to reflect light into valley

A town in Norway has placed giant mirrors on top of the hills surrounding it, to beam light into the valley in the dark winter months.

Scientists now the man with the golden gum

BRIDIE SMITH Money may not grow on trees but researchers have found that the next best thing does. Gold.

Global landmarks backed-up digitally in 3D

Raphael Satter A non-profit has created digital copies of more than 100 of the world's best-known monuments.

Hair-raising discovery in pursuit of a cure for baldness

RACHEL WELLS Researchers have made a big breakthrough in the treatment of baldness but it is not for the faint-hearted.

How technology captures music's soothing power

CATHERINE ARMITAGE Most things lose their mystique if you look at them for long enough, and so it is proving with music, except you need to listen, not look.

Far out - these images will really tease the brain

BRIDIE SMITH To the untrained eye, the web of coloured wires rising and falling en masse across the wall of 3D screens looks like someone has let loose with a can of silly string, photographed the resulting mess and then zoomed in on a colourful cluster.

'Cave' men lead scientific way with revolutionary 3D imaging

Bridie Smith To the untrained eye, the web of coloured wires rising and falling en masse across the wall of 3D screens looks like someone has let lose with a can of silly string, photographed the resulting mess and then zoomed in on a colourful cluster.

Exoplanets, orphans of the universe

PETER SPINKS Once thought to be the stuff of science fiction, scientists are learning more about these mysterious rogues.

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1.8 million-year-old skull gives glimpse of our evolution

Elizabeth Lopatto Skull suggests long-debated distinctions about early human development may be overblown.

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